All is not well with the neighbouring Nation Pakistan – as it seemingly struggling not only in Economy but also political stability. This post is on a train accident in Pak. !
The river was known to Indians in the Vedic period. Alexander the Great allegedly founded the town of Alexandria on the Indus in Pakistan at the confluence of the Indus and the combined streams of Punjab rivers (currently known as the Panjnad River). Arrian, in the Anabasis of Alexander, quotes the eyewitness Ptolemy Lagides as writing that the river is 2 miles wide where Alexander crossed it.
We have read in school books of 5 rivers – Chenab being one .. the Chenab River is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul region of Himachal Pradesh, India. River Chenab flows through the Jammu region into the plains of Punjab, Pakistan, before ultimately flowing into the Indus River. The waters of the Chenab were allocated to Pakistan under the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty. India is allowed non-consumptive uses such as power generation. The Chenab River is extensively used in Pakistan for irrigation.
The counter part of Indian Railways is – Pakistan Railways, the national, state-owned railway company of Pakistan in Lahore. Founded in 1861 as the North Western State Railway and headquartered in Lahore, it owns 7,490 kilometres (4,650 miles) of operational track across Pakistan, stretching from Torkham to Karachi, offering both freight and passenger services. Following the partition of British India and independence of Pakistan in 1947, most of the North Western State Railway infrastructure was in Pakistani territory and was renamed the Pakistan Western Railway. In East Bengal, the portion of the Assam Bengal Railway in Pakistani territory was renamed the Pakistan Eastern Railway – which was to change again.
Hazara Express is a daily passenger train of Pakistan Railways running between Karachi and Havelian in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The trip takes approximately 33 hours to cover a published distance of 1,594 kilometres (990 mi), traveling along a stretch of the Karachi–Peshawar Railway Line, Khanewal–Wazirabad Branch Line, Shorkot–Lalamusa Branch Line and Taxila–Khunjerab Railway Line.
The Hazara Express was originally called the Chenab Express before 2006 and it ran between Karachi and Peshawar via Lala Musa, Faisalabad and Multan.On 6 August 2023, the train derailed while going from Karachi to Rawalpindi, killing at least 33 people and injuring more than 100. It was reported that 10 bogies of the Rawalpindi-bound Hazara Express overturned as the train derailed, . near the Sahara Railway Station, located between Shahzadpur and Nawabshah on Sunday.
Pakistan Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq said that "mechanical fault or sabotage" may have caused the accident.
The Nation is in turmoil – former PM Cricketer Imran Khan has been barred from politics for five years. News reports suggest atht the ex-PM has been kept in a small bug-infested cell with an open washroom in the high-security Attock jail after his conviction and arrest in a corruption case. Khan’s attorney Naeem Haider Panjotha said that the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman has been provided C-class facilities in the jail in Punjab province. Imran who was sentenced in a corruption case over the weekend, was disqualified in line with his conviction, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Under Pakistani law, a convicted person cannot run for any public office for a period defined by the ECP.
In a separate news, Pakistan is mulling options to privatise its loss making National Carrier – Pakistan International Airlines - as the country also seeks to outsource its airport operations in line with an IMF deal. The privatisation decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Privatisation chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar9th Aug 2023.
